Are American high tech workers obsolete?

[Jon Hall]

Hi,

Alex asked me to comment on this topic even though it has died down a bit on
the list.  I will try to be brief [Several hours later I can see that I have
failed in being brief.]

First of all, everything I have seen indicates that Open Source is actually
decentralizes software development.

In the early days of computers, there was no such thing as "shrink-wrapped
software".  This was due mainly to two factors:

	o lack of a large enough market for software (due to the ultra high
	  price of computing)

	o lack of a "standard" platform, which helped extend the above bullet
          even longer into the history of computing

When someone wanted a piece of software, they typically went to a company that
developed that type of software and negotiated a contract that said what they
were buying and how it would be tailored to their needs.  I participated in
several of these contract negotiations.  Boy were they fun (said with deep
sarcasm).  But we got what we paid for.  In effect, software was a service
industry.

Then the micro-computer brought about the age of shrink-wrapped software.
Not at first.  Not in the days of the Altair, but in the later days of the
Lisa, Macintosh and "IBM PC".  Remember Charlie Chaplin and the rose?  Remember
Computertown?  Remember when Digital Equipment Corporation had their retail
stores (probably for about one year, ouch).